


make it easy, take your time

by apollonian



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, M/M, excluding precanon deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 04:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13092813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollonian/pseuds/apollonian
Summary: Even after all these years, Beacon Hills’ smell was still so familiar to him: pine trees and rich earth, undercut with a faint line of magic running through the ley lines…and something else, something new. Derek sniffed discreetly, trying to parse out the new scent. It was a strangely compelling mix of warm cider and oranges, and he had never smelled anything like it before.Or, Laura sends Derek back to Beacon Hills for the West Coast Lycanthropic & Other Identities Symposium, and he finds something he wasn't expecting.





	make it easy, take your time

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Sterek Secret Santa gift for [knownonsense8](https://knownonsense8.tumblr.com/). It went through several different iterations before I settled on this one; I really wanted to include werewolf!Stiles, but unfortunately, that didn't work out with this particular version. I did get in the werewolf reveal aspect (kind of) so I hope you like it regardless! :)
> 
> This is set in an AU after the fire: Peter died in the fire, Laura, Derek and Cora all survived. Laura and Derek set up a new pack in New York, Cora went to Argentina once she was old enough. A random omega passing through Beacon Hills bit Scott, not Peter. The title is from the song Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear.
> 
> Finally, thanks to Leetje, the lovely mod for this event, for dealing with all the delays I had, and for running the event and making sure it went off without a hitch :)

“—and we’ve collaborated with the hotel to get you discounted prices on rooms! Feel free to book a room, they’d love to have you!”

Derek smiled and nodded at Kira, the kitsune who had been giving him a rundown of the annual West Coast Lycanthropic & Other Identities Symposium, hoping he seemed sincere. He had absolutely no intentions of staying in the hotel with all the other people attending the symposium, not when he’d already let Laura badger him into coming back to Beacon Hills after a good ten years away. Kira was very enthusiastic, though, and Laura would kill him if she found out he was being a grump, so he was trying to be as friendly as possible.

Kira handed him a sheaf of brochures and a nametag hanging from a lanyard, and Derek stuffed them in the outside pocket of his suitcase. He shook her hand, said a quick goodbye and then turned tail, leaving before he gave in and ending up staying at the hotel. She’d been the first organizer of the symposium he’d met, and unable to resist her relentless chatter and bright smile, he had already listened to the history of the symposium, how it had changed from being just for werewolves to including a whole host of other supernatural creatures, while getting a tour of the hotel ballrooms the various talks were going to be held in.

Derek didn’t care if it looked like he was running away, he definitely did not trust his willpower against her determined cheerfulness.

Of course, that still left him without a place to stay. Beacon Hills had grown quite a lot over the past ten years, but there still were only a few reputable places to stay, and fewer still that were close to the hotel where the symposium was being held and far enough away from the site of the old house. Derek knew that if the symposium went well and if the current supernatural inhabitants of Beacon Hills were okay with the Hales coming back, Laura would definitely move the whole pack back. He’d have to finally face the burnt down remains of his old home then, but until that time? He was going to be avoiding it as long as he could.

He wandered out of the hotel and breathed in deep. Even after all these years, Beacon Hills’ smell was still so familiar to him: pine trees and rich earth, undercut with a faint line of magic running through the ley lines…and something else, something new. Derek sniffed discreetly, trying to parse out the new scent. It was a strangely compelling mix of warm cider and oranges, and he had never smelled anything like it before. Almost unconsciously, he picked up his suitcase and followed the scent down the sidewalk, barely paying attention to the pedestrian crossings.

After a few minutes, he reached a cozy brick building, stopping at a neatly painted white and blue door, the scent clearly leading him inside. A wooden sign next the door proclaimed it to be the “Delgado Bed and Breakfast – A Beacon Hills Original!” Derek shrugged to himself. Might as well stay here, instead of the crowded hotel. He swung the door open, a bell tinkling gently overhead, only to be smacked face-first by the scent, unadulterated by time and distance, and its apparent source, a lanky pale guy laughing in the most distracting way possible, his head thrown back and his neck bared for all to see. Derek was struck by the sudden urge to stride over and _bite_ , and only snapped out of it when the door handle began to lose shape under his grip.

He hastily yanked his hand back and walked over to the guy, who was sitting behind the reception desk and grinning down at his phone. He straightened up when he saw Derek, toning down his smile, but that did nothing to diminish the butterflies suddenly zooming about in Derek’s stomach. Up close, the guy was even more enticing: kissable pink lips and deep brown eyes, crinkling up as he smiled, the cutest upturned nose Derek had ever seen. Derek’s fangs were even more itchy now, his wolf ready to stick his nose in the soft bend of the guy’s neck and mark him as his own.

Derek was so screwed.

~~~

The guy’s name was Stiles, he was in his senior year of college at UC Davis, and he was helping out at his best friend’s mom’s B&B for winter break, like he had been for the past four years.

He had also thrown Derek off so much that Derek had stumbled through the conversation, feeling even more awkward than he usually did. The tips of his ears had been bright pink for the whole interaction, and he’d almost let it slip that he was here for the Lycanthropic Symposium, before managing to cover it up by vaguely mentioning something about a work conference. He really should have read up on how the organizers presented the symposium to the rest of the non-supernatural world.

Stiles had just looked at him with an actual twinkle in his eye, said that everyone in town was excited that Beacon Hills had been picked to host the conference, especially Stiles himself, and then had very obviously checked Derek out and winked at him. Derek had stood there, tongue-tied, and Stiles had smirked at him, handed him his room key and a card, and told him to give him a call if he ever needed anything, with special emphasis on the _anything._

Derek had somehow managed to get to his room without making even more of a fool out of himself, and was now lying on the bed with his face smushed into a pillow. His phone was vibrating next to his head, texts from Laura and the rest of his pack demanding details on his day so far. When Laura called him, the obnoxious song she’d set as her ringtone blaring out, Derek finally stopped replaying the conversation over his head and answered his phone. Laura hated talking to people on the phone, and the fact that she’d resorted to calling meant she was this close to freaking out.

He realized he was on speakerphone when a chorus of voices greeted him, and just that sound was enough to leach some of his tension away. It hadn’t really sunk in how much he missed everyone, even Erica and her tendency to use him as a footrest no matter where he was. He suddenly wanted them to be right here with him, even though he knew he’d be in for merciless teasing.

“I’m fine,” he said, wanting to get that settled right away. “I got my symposium information, I have a place to stay, I’m okay.”

“Good,” Laura’s voice filtered through over the sound of the rest of the pack’s ruckus. “That’s great to hear, but why the hell didn’t you answer our texts?”

Derek grumbled and stuck his face back into his pillow. He didn’t want to get into this right now, especially not with the rest of the pack still on the call.

“Derek Samuel Hale,” Laura said, trotting out her rarely used alpha voice. “You’d better answer me right now or I’m flying out there to find out myself.”

In the background, Derek could hear Isaac and Boyd laughing and Erica fake-swooning at Laura, and he sighed. There was no getting out of this.

He gave them a quick run through of his day, from meeting Kira and getting swept along on her tour, and then ~~running away~~ making a strategic escape, catching hold of the scent, following it to the B &B and _Stiles_ —

“Ooh, Derek, do you have a crush?” Erica sing-songed at him, and Derek rolled his eyes.

“ _No_ ,” he said, “I just think he has a really enticing scent, okay?”

“But you want to soak in that scent, right? Possibly while doing some indecent things to him? And it sounds like he’s into you too!”

Derek squirmed. “Yeah, but I probably sounded like a total idiot, and I should be focused on the symposium and making connections. And—he doesn’t even know about werewolves, he wouldn’t know what he’s getting into, and I don’t want to do that to him.”

 “Derek, don’t overthink this,” Laura said. “Look, you’re there for the conference, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, too. I know going ho—going back must be really stressful for you, but it’s going to be fine. He knows you’re just here for the conference, he’s not expecting a whole heart-to-heart and a declaration of marriage in the next few days.”

“You’re probably right,” Derek said, and Laura interrupted with a smug “I’m _always_ right.” Derek huffed at her and she laughed, breaking the tense atmosphere.

“You don’t have to take him up on his invitation, but think about it,” Laura said. “And you know if you need any tips, we’re here for you.”

“You definitely need some tips,” Erica chimed in, and Derek snorted. “I’m serious, let’s start with what you’re going to wear tomorrow – and no scarves, Isaac!”

Derek laughed despite himself. Everything was going to be okay, probably.

~~~

Everything was _fantastic._

Derek had managed to ask Stiles out early in the morning, before heading out for the first full day at the symposium, and despite his stumbling sentences, Stiles had grinned at him brightly and said yes.

That memory had carried Derek through the interminable talks about werewolf pack hierarchies and tracing back pack lineage through new DNA sequencing technologies, as well as through the equally awful small talk with old allies and connections of the Hale pack. By the end of the day he’d been this close to causing a full-on pack war if yet another person mentioned how much he’d grown up, and only the thought of seeing Stiles after all this helped him keep his cool.

He’d made it back to the B&B and changed into some nicer, non-rumpled clothes with helpful background commentary from Boyd, and then waited for Stiles at the entryway of the B&B with only minimal anxious overthinking.

They’d gone to a quiet Italian restaurant, based on Stiles’ suggestion, and now they were having an intense discussion about certain plot points in _Jupiter Ascending,_ of all things, lingering over their dessert.

“Listen listen listen,” Stiles said, waving his fork in the air and almost splattering tiramisu all over the pristine table cloth. “Is harvesting innocent people to ensure that you look young and beautiful forever awful? Of course! But if I was given the opportunity to try some of that youth potion or whatever? Not going to lie, I would probably take it.”

Derek hummed in response, letting Stiles carry the conversation for a minute, taking a bite of his tiramisu and trying not to stare too obviously at how beautiful he looked when passionate. His hair was still maintaining its style despite him running his hands through it almost constantly, but his cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes were sparkling, mouth curving down in an attempt to hide a smile.

His scent was even more intoxicating now, made brighter with the notes of happiness and excitement running through it, and Derek wanted to bury himself in it.

He took another bite of the excellent tiramisu as Stiles said, “Plus, you know, even half-canine Channing Tatum was very hot. I think werewolves should have definitely been much more popular than vampires, ugh.”

Derek jerked and almost knocked his glass off the table, catching it before it fell, perhaps a little too fast to be human. He could feel the tips of his ears turning red again.

“What do you think?” Stiles asked, looking at him with interest. He had this little half-smirk on his face that Derek desperately wanted to kiss.

“About what?”

“About werewolves – this might be a deal-breaker, man, so choose your answer wisely.”

Derek shrugged, tried to appear as casual as possible, and said, “Oh, I like werewolves, yeah,” and Stiles raised his hands in a small, silent cheer, tiramisu fork still in his hand.

Derek grinned and gently brought the hand holding his fork down, and continued, “One of my sisters was very into Team Edward, though.”

Stiles gasped theatrically. “Team _Edward!_ That’s a bad sign, Derek, I don’t know if I can meet her and keep my Team Jacob loyalties suppressed.”

Derek laughed and opened his mouth to reply, but then Stiles’ words truly sunk in and he paused.

“Are you saying this’ll continue long enough that we’ll meet each other’s family?”

Surprisingly, the notion didn’t strike fear into his heart. Instead, it felt – almost comfortable, a future he could see happening.

Stiles blushed, his cheeks turning even more pink, and his scent turned a little bit acrid with nervousness. “I know it’s only our first date, and you’re only here for a week, but honestly? Yeah, I hope it does. When you walked in yesterday, I saw you and – this is going to sound incredibly cheesy and stupid, but I saw you and it felt like something just clicked into place.”

Derek swallowed, thinking about how Stiles’ heartbeat was a little faster, but it hadn’t stuttered at all while he was speaking. He raised his eyes to meet Stiles’ brown ones, and said, “Yeah, I – yeah, me too, I did too.”

Stiles broke into a blinding smile and Derek smiled back, helplessly. Their feet knocked together under the table and Stiles hooked his ankle around Derek’s, and Derek wanted this to last forever. They finished their dessert quickly, eventually standing outside the restaurant, staring into each other’s eyes like a couple of love-struck morons.

He watched Stiles watch him, and they were drifting closer, closer, lips barely brushing, and then they were kissing for real, and Derek had never felt like this before.

They pulled apart for breath, foreheads still pressed together, Stiles’ skin warm under his. He had his arms tucked around Stiles’ waist, and he was ready to start kissing him again, until he remembered something he’d wanted to mention.

“Oh, um. My pa—my family is actually thinking about moving back to Beacon Hills, if everything goes well this week,” he said, and Stiles rocked back on his heels, eyes flicking down to his lips. “So we – I mean this is really presumptuous but – this doesn’t have to be a week-long thing, and it doesn’t have to be a long-distance thing for very long, either.”

“Derek, that’s awesome,” Stiles said, scent bright with happiness, and then he squinted. “Wait, back to Beacon Hills?”

Oh. Derek had completely forgotten to explain this earlier. He’d danced around the topic of his parents during the dinner, and felt a pang of empathy when Stiles had done the same about his mother, but he had never actually mentioned that he was from Beacon Hills originally.

“Yeah, my family used to live here – I was born here, lived here until I was sixteen…we had to then move away after—after that,” Derek said, hoping he didn’t have to go any deeper into it. Stiles squinted at him again, and then, with dawning recognition, said, “Holy shit, you’re Derek _Hale_.”

Derek grimaced at him, preparing for the usual platitudes, but Stiles surprised him. That was a pattern that he probably needed to start getting used to.

“Oh jeez, I had the biggest crush on you when I was in middle school – I was just a couple years below you, you probably don’t remember me, but hah. Look at us now!”

As Derek tried to find a way to respond to that, Stiles stuck his hand into Derek’s and then steered them back towards the B&B, telling him about his childhood and the various shenanigans he used to get into, right under his father’s nose.

By the time they reached the B&B, Derek felt much more even-keeled. He smiled gratefully at Stiles as they came to a stop, squeezing his hand. Stiles squeezed back, eyes curved up in little happy semi-circles, and Derek didn’t resist the urge to kiss him, leaning in and curving a hand around his neck, brushing the soft hairs at the nape. He didn’t make it deeper, just kept it soft and chaste, and let it end naturally.

They stood in comfortable silence for a few seconds, and then Derek drew back reluctantly. He had to get settled in for bed, since tomorrow would be another long day, and he had yet to search out and talk directly to the alpha of the new pack in Beacon Hills, McCall something.

“See you tomorrow evening?” he asked hopefully.

“Definitely, you’re not getting rid of me now,” Stiles replied, and smiled.

~~~

Three days and three dates later, Derek was smitten, and even Laura and Cora (calling him from her ranch in Argentina) teasing him wasn’t enough to bring him down.

“Derek, your life is literally like a romcom right now,” Cora said, crackly static marring the sound of her voice.

“I _love_ it,” Laura said, delighted. “I’m so tempted to come out there right now, you don’t even know. I want to see how big your heart-eyes are, and also meet Stiles and tell him every embarrassing story I have about you.”

Cora laughed in the background and Derek groaned, exaggerating his annoyance.

“Laura, please,” Derek said, but he knew his sisters could hear the smile in his voice.

“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “Tell me how the new Beacon Hills alpha’s doing – what did he think about us coming back?”

Derek had met Scott briefly last night, and today he’d talked to him in more depth. He’d been surprised to find that Scott was genuinely nice and sincere, despite all the crap he’d been put through in Beacon Hills, after being bit by a random rogue omega and having the true alpha status foisted upon him. Kira, the cheerful kitsune from Derek’s first day, was apparently his fiancée, and when Derek had tentatively brought up the idea of his pack returning to Beacon Hills, they had both been very enthusiastic. Derek was sure that if everyone else in Scott’s pack was as welcoming as he was, they’d get along with his pack just fine.

He told them all of this, and Laura hummed. Derek knew she was probably making plans to start the process of moving back and to get in touch with Scott as soon as possible.

“He’s also invited me to dinner tonight, at his house, so that I can meet the rest of his pack,” he added.

Both Cora and Laura made the exact same approving noise, and Derek snorted. “I take it you guys approve.”

“Hell yeah,” Laura said, “Look at you, Derek, living life to the fullest, finding a cute boy to date, being social and going out to dinner with people, you’re a real boy now.”

Derek rolled his eyes as Cora snickered. He changed the topic by asking Cora about how her horses were doing, and he knew that she knew exactly what he was doing, but she rambled on about them for a while anyway. Derek lost himself in her stories for a while, but one nagging thought kept rising to the surface until he couldn’t keep it in anymore.

 “So, I want to tell Stiles about werewolves,” Derek blurted out, and then closed his eyes, waiting for the fallout.

It never came.

“Derek, if this is you asking for my permission, you don’t need to,” Laura said, voice gentle in a way it rarely was. “I know you’ve felt a connection with him, and I trust your judgement.”

“But you know what happened the last time I told someone about us,” Derek said, heart in his throat. He wanted to take Laura at her word, but he couldn’t stop thinking about every little thing that could – and had – gone wrong in the past, because of his miscalculations. “What if that happens again? And even if it doesn’t, what if this is too soon and he can’t handle it? Maybe we’ll never work out and this would all be for nothing.”

“Kate was evil, Derek, and from everything you’ve told me, Stiles is the complete opposite of that,” Laura said, firm. “I don’t think anything like that is ever going to happen again. And even if it is too soon, even if it is all for nothing – I think it’ll be good for you to take a chance. Sometimes you just have to hope for the best and take the plunge, you know?”

“I guess,” Derek said, sighing. “I just—I want to tell him, just get it out of the way, but I just don’t know what to expect, and I talk myself out of it, but then I feel like it’ll be better to tell him, and then I keep going in circles about it.”

“Look, I’m not going to pressure you to tell him if you’re not ready,” Laura said. “You can wait if you want to. But if your gut’s telling you that this is the right time, and you don’t have any obvious red flags popping up – I trust you and I’ll support you either way, even if it doesn’t go well.”

 “And if it doesn’t go well, I can always come up there and kick his ass for you,” Cora added.

Derek laughed weakly, and cleared his throat, trying to tamp down the swell of emotion in his chest.

“That’s great to hear,” he joked, toying with the sheets on his bed. There was so much to consider, so many factors to take into account, but his sisters had made him feel a little more determined. “Okay, I think I’m going to do it as soon as possible.”

Cora cheered, and Laura said, “Great! Now, you just need to figure out a good time to do it.”

“All I’m going to say is that don’t do it while you’re having sex,” Cora said.

“Oh my god,” Derek groaned, and Cora cackled in his ear.

“Why don’t you do it after your date tomorrow? Have a nice dinner, bring him back to your room or his apartment or whatever, tell him that this is something important and just reveal it to him slowly,” Laura said. “And _don’t_ freak out if he reacts badly at first, okay? Give him time to adjust and get his worldview sorted.”

Derek sighed. “Okay, okay. Nice dinner, calm reveal, no running away.”

“And remember to not be a grump at dinner with the new alpha today, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Derek said. “I’ll try my best.”

“That’s all I ever ask for,” Laura said, an audible smile in her voice, and Cora cooed at them in the background.

~~~

Derek paced a block away from Scott’s house, holding a gift bag with a bottle of wine in it. He knew that Scott and Kira were very nice and would welcome him, but he hadn’t heard much about the rest of the pack, beyond that they were a rag-tag collection of various supernatural creatures. This was his chance to show that he, and by extension his pack, would be useful to have back in Beacon Hills, whether just as extra helping hands in times of need, or as friends and confidantes as well.

Not only that, this was also his chance to cement his future with Stiles – a future which didn’t involve long distance. And if all went well, he might even ask Scott for tips about the whole werewolf reveal thing. Scott probably had more experience than him, given the unusual makeup of his pack, and the fact that Laura had found and bitten Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, while Derek had only been really involved once they had committed to getting the bite.

He took a deep breath and glanced at his watch. He had five minutes until 7:00, when Scott had told him to show up. He adjusted his grip on the gift bag and started heading towards the house. The familiar scent of pine and earth surrounded him again, and he automatically sorted through it until he pulled out Stiles’ cider and oranges, something he’d started doing no matter where in Beacon Hills he was. Stiles’ scent was all over town, and it had become a comfort for Derek, a way to calm his nerves regardless of his location.

On Scott’s street, though, it seemed to be stronger than usual. Perhaps Stiles and his dad lived close by too. As he turned onto the little walkway leading up to Scott’s front door, Derek took one last deep breath, and almost sneezed, startled by how much stronger Stiles’ scent was here.

He had barely made it to the door when it swung open, and Derek looked up to find—

“ _Stiles?_ ”

Stiles blinked back at him, eyes wide and mouth half open. Behind him, Derek could hear Scott saying something about how opening the door before the guest had knocked was rude even if the guest was a werewolf, but his attention was focused on Stiles and his reaction.

Before he could ask anything, though, Stiles hissed, “I knew it, the Hales had to be werewolves! You’re all too pretty to be completely human!”

Well. At least now he didn’t have to go through the whole “werewolves are real and surprise! I’m one” thing anymore?

~~~

Ten minutes later, all of them – Derek, Stiles, Scott, Kira, and the other members of Scott’s pack – were all seated in the living room, talking through what had just happened. Well, most everyone else was chattering away, but Derek was just holding Stiles’ hand, still shocked that Stiles not only knew about werewolves, but was Scott’s actual emissary, and that he was still interested in Derek.

“I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots earlier,” Stiles said, rubbing his thumb along Derek’s palm. “You almost slipped up and said the Lycanthrope Symposium when we first met!”

“Yeah,” Derek admitted. “I was really flustered because you were there, and you were so – and your scent was just – amazing.”

Stiles beamed at him. “Awww, you were discombobulated by me! That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me.”

“Psh,” Derek said, hoping his burning ears weren’t too obvious, and tried to move the topic along. “I can’t believe I didn’t catch your scent at the symposium talks.”

“Well, I was only there for a few minutes at a time, whenever I could get some time off from Scott’s mom’s B&B. I don’t think you’d have been able to catch my scent, what with so many other people around.”

Derek glanced away from Stiles, but his blush had spread to his cheeks and he knew they had given him away when Stiles gaped at him.

“No way, you could have caught my scent with all of those people around? Even through all the selkies and their awful fish market smell?”

Derek shrugged, trying to be dismissive, but Stiles grabbed him and planted a kiss on his lips, his hands warm on Derek’s face.

He clambered onto Derek’s lap, almost kicking Scott in the head along the way, said, grinning happily, “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard, Derek Hale. I’m planning on keeping you forever.”

Derek smiled back, helpless, and envisioned a future full of this – a warm house full of both of their packs, Stiles always near him – and said, “I would love that.”


End file.
